Rising Sun
by FuMaouChu
Summary: The world is different, but events are much the same. Or they would have been, if a bandaged man (who is decidedly not a hero) hadn't interrupted Obito's attempt to extract the Kyuubi from Kushina Uzumaki. Naruto begins his climb to the top of the world from the deepest pits of hell, and only time will tell if he will see the sunrise, or if the coming dusk will smother his flame.
1. Rising Sun Announcements

Greetings my cute and wonderful little readers! Maou here, and I have a few announcements for you all!

1) Given recent events in the Manga !SPOILERS! Such as Lady Kaguya and Black Zetsu shenanigans !END SPOILERS! myself and my beta have decided that we're going to be restructuring our plot, and rewriting our posted chapters, and even adding a couple new ones. Hindsight is 20/20 after all, and we've decided that we can do better than we did. The old chapters are coming down until they're rewritten, and I'll be taking this announcement down when we begin the Mission to Wave Arc, and that'll be just delicious.

2)In addition to rewriting chapters in Rising Sun, we will also be posting up one-shots, and small story arcs, related to the main fic. We're doing this because while Naruto and Team Seven are important, integral parts of the world, there's SO MUCH MORE going on, and sometimes, we just feel the need to share. These one-shots and arcs will be posted under a new fic, called "Rising Sun: B-Sides" and the B-Sides will detail adventures of the other Rookies from Konoha, the various Jonin doing _things_, and eventually, some OCs doing stuff. Now, the B-Sides are not, and will never be required reading for Rising Sun to make sense, but if you do read them, then you'll have a better understanding of the world that we've created. Truly, we only hope that you enjoy reading about this world and its intricacies, as much as we enjoy creating it.

3) *Sigh* Item three. Now, for those of you aware of my intentions with this story, either because you took a look at my bio or actually looked at the ANs at the end the chapters, know that I want to make this fic a somewhat interactive one, by way of a forum-based Naruto RP. You would be able to make characters, do things, and depending on what you do...even influence the course of the fic itself. Now, we had hoped to get the RP site up and running before we got to the Wave Arc, and the rewrite has given us more time to do so. But there's SO MUCH TO BE DONE that its a little maddening. So, if anyone has any experience with a Forum RP, and would like to help turn this mad little idea into reality, send me a PM yes, and let's make this happen!

Announcements done, message delivered, time for me to get back to work. Maou, AWAAAAAAAY


	2. Prologue (MK2)

AN: [So, the basic premise of this story is the whole "Want of a Nail" thing. One change, results in _everything_ changing. Though, that isn't entirely true, as the world I've created is an Alternate Universe, with different rules, but…well, why don't you just read and see mmm?]

So, given the recent information from the manga, which is canon, and thus irrefutable pieces of the Naruto Universe, my beta and I have been giving it some thought. And as a result of this new information, and the information that is SURE to come in the upcoming chapters, we are restructuring this fic, changing how the plot will progress and rewriting and editing some (most) of the chapters. It will still, of course, detail Naruto's rise, and maybe his fall, but the way things will happen are going to be a little...different than originally planned.

In fact, things will be _better_.

* * *

><p><strong>Rising Sun<strong>

**0**

**Unexpected Interruptions**

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><p>Minato faced the intruder with his chest full of fury. Who was this masked man, this intruder, daring to threaten his child, his family, on <em>this day<em> of all days.

"Yondaime Hokage…Minato. Back away from the Jinchuuriki, or your son dies at the ripe old age of one minute."

Minato stood firm, unsure what he should do. His newborn son's life was in the balance…but so was his wife's. '_How did he break through the barrier…who the hell is this guy?'_ His foot shifted forward, as he prepared to spring into action and save the day like the heroic man that he was when Kushina cried out, and for an instant, foul chakra spiked into the room. He spun, "Kushina! The seal's not done!"

The man's hand twitched, and a kunai appeared, his voice was still level, almost toneless, "Back away from the jinchuuriki…or don't you care if your son dies?" Minato could _hear_ the man's smirk, and wanted nothing more than to rip that mask off his face and beat him to death with it. Instead he grit his teeth and put his hand up to placate the man, "Hold it, j-just calm down!" Again, Kushina convulsed, and again, the Kyuubi's foul chakra spiked.

"You should take your own advice, Minato. I'm perfectly calm." And with that same toneless, smirking voice he tossed the newborn into the air.

Through her own agony, the pain of recent childbirth and the strain of suppressing the Kyuubi, Kushina cried out her son's name, and the masked man positioned himself to impale the newborn on his blade…

Only for Minato to snatch the child out of the air, "You live up to the 'Yellow Flash' moniker, but what now?" His smirking voice was smugger than ever as Minato looked down to notice that the man had activated explosive tags that had been placed on the baby's blanket.

In an instant, Minato pulled his son out of the blanket…just as the tags detonated.

"Minato! Naruto!"

The small building was demolished as Minato hit the ground, cradling his son and absorbing the impact with his body. "Thank god…you're not hurt." He winced as he pulled a large splinter out of his leg, '_He's after Kushina…He forced me to use my Hirashin no Jutsu to separate us…gotta hurry!'_

* * *

><p>Minato appeared farther from Kushina than he expected. Which shouldn't have been possible, his Hirashin seal should have deposited him at her side, and only at her side. He did not expect this. And he definitely didn't expect to see his masked assailant being kicked away from a chained Kushina by a bandaged man dressed in black.<p>

The bandaged man looked towards Minato, his single visible eye half-lidded, "I'll be with you in a moment." The masked man had landed some distance away, and clutched at his stomach in obvious pain. He grunted and rolled to his feet before attempting to leap away, only for a spidery array of seals to cover his body, spreading from the spot him his stomach that the bandaged man had kicked. The masked man collapsed to the ground once more, the air twisting and folding and cracking around him, before snapping back into place with an audible pop, that clearly caused the masked man some measure of pain, if his ragged breathing was any indication.

The bandaged man approached his opponent and knelt next to him. "You lost, pawn. Why don't you go away for a bit?" The bandaged man's visible eye flashed crimson, and the seals on the masked man began to glow white, twisting and turning and spiralling up into the single eye-hole of the downed shinobi's mask. The air began to twist and crack, and in a few short moments, the masked man was gone, leaving only a ripple in the air and the smell of blood. "That's a good boy.

Rolling his shoulders, the bandaged man turned to face Minato; he stood in silence, expectantly.

Despite the relief he felt at the masked man being dispatched, or at least removed from the situation, Minato could not let himself relax, not with this new and unknown individual having displayed obvious strength and unknown skills. "Who are you?" His voice was level, but he couldn't help but let some of his strain show.

The man sighed and looked over his shoulder at the half-conscious Kushina. "A disappointed third party."

"What do you mean?"

"Here I was expecting some kind of challenge. A proper Uzumaki jinchuuriki, and from that particular lineage. But I find only a half-dead bitch, a fool, and a pawn." The man turned towards Kushina and stretched out his arm, sealing formulae appearing on it, the obvious focal point of the array being the man's palm. As with the seals placed upon the masked man, these flashed white, and the man's arm became transparent and ethereal. "Unless the fool wants to go the way of the pawn, he will not interfere."

Minato burst into action, appearing before the bandaged man, a Rasengan driving into the man's stomach even as his blade darted for his throat. "Stay away from my _wife_!"

The man was driven back, his arm returning to normal. His eye narrowed, "Think carefully about this, lest you die an empty death."

"There's nothing to think about."

"Come then."

Minato blurred forward, driven by nothing but his own physical power. The man shifted, and Minato poured chakra into his legs, vanishing entirely as he shunshined behind the man and drove another Rasengan into him. The man twisted, his hand clasping Minato's wrist without turning his body, and held him with a grip like iron. The bandaged man hummed thoughtfully. "You're fast, I'm impressed."

Kushina cried out, and a wave of foul chakra crashed down upon Minato and his opponent. Minato was almost driven to his knees, his mouth suddenly dry and his muscles as weak as a child's. The man's grip loosened, for a moment, and Minato was able to jerk away. The already weakened seal was unravelling; at this rate even Kushina's impressive willpower and unique chakra wouldn't be able to contain the Kyuubi.

Minato couldn't help but feel a sliver of respect for the man as well, "Your reflexes are good."

Behind his bandages, Minato could see the man smile, "You have some potential, I'm inclined to let you live. Perhaps you'll reconsider this foolish course of action?"

The Yondaime simply narrowed his eyes and drew another kunai.

"A pity." The man's hand extended, and Minato, in a moment of clarity, saw his error.

The bandaged man used fuinjutsu to defeat the masked one.

The bandaged man had grabbed his wrist.

So when the spidery black lines burst from just below Minato's glove and rapidly extended to cover his entire body, he was not entirely surprised. Then, as if a great weight had been dropped upon his shoulders, Minato fell to the ground, gasping for breath as the weight of his own skin seemed to crush him.

As the world went black, a bandaged foot clad in a simple straw sandal crunched into the ground near Minato's face. A bandaged hand grasped his face and rolled Minato to his back. The man's single eye locked with his, the slit pupil faded inside a snow white iris.

The bandaged hand fell...

"Die pitifully, Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, Kiiroi Senkou. Know that you were not fast enough to prevent this. In no world are you fast enough to prevent this."

Namikaze Minato died there, without ceremony or fanfare, with only his wife and killer to mark his passing.

* * *

><p>Uzumaki Kushina watched with blank eyes as the man that killed her husband vanished in a blur of whiteness.<p>

Then the life rushed back into her eyes as the cold, trembling spark of disbelief exploded into a raging conflagration of fury. A shriek tore itself from her throat and her limbs found newfound strength as she strained against the thick chains that bound her to the pillars of stone.

She screamed and struggled until her throat was raw and her wrists were bloody and her muscles screamed in protest. With a final cry, she slumped in her chains, defeated.

She was a jinchuuriki with a failing seal, weakened from childbirth. She was not without options.

"Fox."

_**My release is at hand, your spirit is broken, everything I've ever wanted is about to become reality. You choose**_** now**_** to speak to me?**_

"Do me a favour."

_**Oh, this is rich. Whatever can I do for you, oh great and mighty jailer?**_

"Wait. Just for a bit. That fucker will be back, yeah? Wait until he is, and I'll break the seal myself. I just need you to do one thing for me."

_**And what's that?**_

"Before you do anything else, _**kill him.**_"

The Kyuubi laughed, and smiled broadly. _**I suppose I can manage that, on account of our close relationship.**_

"Thank you." A faint smile appeared on her lips as the building pressure behind the seal receded. Her smile died as the bandaged man reappeared, a screaming bundle in his arms. Her voice was small, weak, and above all else, terrified, "Naruto."

_**A bargain struck, woman. Pity, you had hoped to spare your little morsel. I'll be sure to chew **_**slowly**_**.**_

The pressure inside her soul began to build once more, and she fought it down, unwilling to allow the demon to be free and endanger her son. Her husband was dead, the beast she contained was struggling to escape to exact bloody vengeance on the humans that had imprisoned it, and her newborn son was in the hands of an unknown killer. This wouldn't go as horribly as it could, somehow, she was sure of it.

The man sighed as he looked at Naruto's crying face, "You know, I was going to let them live. Your husband and the child." He looked at her with his pale eye, "You would die from the process, but they would have lived some few short years more. But I have dealt with...frustrations. Frustration on top of frustration. I'm sure you can imagine, I feel somewhat vindictive now."

The man extended his right arm and the spidery symbols of his fuinjutsu spread to cover it. AS before the seals flashed white, and his arm took on an ethereal quality. He approached her, her squirming child held securely in the crook of his left arm.

That pale eye locked on hers, and she saw the shadow of a smile behind the bandages that wrapped his face.

"Don't fight it."

Then there was pain.

Her veins were full of molten steel, her nerves replaced by lightning and fire, and above it all, a sickening, twisting feeling tugging at the core of her existence. The man's arm was buried up to the elbow in her stomach, into her seal.

In her soul.

In her mind's eye, she could see it, tendrils of white chakra grabbing at the Kyuubi, pulling her chains off of it, binding it in light.

He was attempting to _drag_ the Kyuubi out of her.

She refused. The Kyuubi refused. For the first time in her life, the fox agreed with her on something. So they pulled against the man's power, with all their might.

For naught.

With a mighty heave, the man wrenched his arm out of Kushina's stomach, a strand of crimson chakra clutched in his hand. With the same hand, the man made a small wound in the center of Naruto's forehead, before pressing the Kyuubi's crimson chakra to the cut.

It was over in an instant, and the only evidence of the sealing was a white symbol reminiscent of an eye, that slowly disappeared, leaving only a pale white line on the infant's face.

The bandaged man looked at the child's face, and could not help but smile as he spoke to Kushina, "Perhaps this will be better. More interesting. Perhaps he will even give me a challenge. Not that you'll be alive to see it." The bandaged man gave Kushina a mocking bow, and vanished in a blur of whiteness once more.

Kushina hung there, chained to the stones, drained and broken as her consciousness slipped away from her. As the blackness came, she wondered what would become of her son, and allowed herself the small consolation that she would see Minato on the other side.

* * *

><p><strong>Twelve Years Later: Konoha Strict Correctional Facility<strong>

* * *

><p>Shimura Danzo was considered by many to be an emotionless, heartless, monster of a man. The man himself disagreed; he was not emotionless, he simply did not allow his emotions to rule him. His face was a mask cast in steel, tempered in the fires of war, and weathered by age.<p>

So when the warden of Konoha's most secure and feared prison saw that one corner of the veteran shinobi's lips was quirked up in the beginnings of what could be called a smile, he was understandably concerned.

"Shikīchi, tell me, how long has the boy been in isolation." Danzo's voice was level, but carried an edge to it, and the warden remembered why he was afraid of the old man.

"Three months now. After the first month, guards entered the solitary chamber to place him back with the troublesome inmates in the hot tubes. They haven't come back out yet, so we've assumed that they're dead. Unpleasant business." Shikīchi ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "We've been putting food through the slot in the door, but he doesn't seem like he wants to come out, so we left him there."

Danzo made a noise in his throat that sounded thoughtful to the warden, "What of his status? How has he developed?"

Shikīchi frowned, "I'm sorry Danzo-sama, I don't..."

The edge to Danzo's voice sharpened, "How has he developed physically? Mentally?"

The warden rubbed his chin, "Physically? He's scrawny. But he's strong as sin, seen him toss a man twice his size across a room like a rag doll, he picked up some tricks from Fūjin and Raijin apparently. Unfortunately, those two aren't the best...role models. He's smart, scary smart, even for me and my clan. But he hasn't really socialized, he can't talk very well; yes, no, food, die. Best we can tell those are the only words he knows, or the only ones he uses. He can understand though, what we say. He listens, and watches. You can see it in his eyes though, when he picks you apart, like he's trying to find the fastest way to rip you apart."

"So he's dangerous?" Danzo's ghost of a smile only intensified, and Shikīchi found his hands were beginning to shake.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say he's dangerous. He's an animal. If he sees you as a threat he's going to kill you, and that's all there is to it."

Danzo was silent for a moment that stretched on forever as they walked down the dim hallway, sweat beginning to appear on his brow as they descended deeper into the volcanic prison.

"Can he use chakra?" The corner of Danzo's mouth had fallen, and his lips were set in a hard line.

Shikīchi stopped mid-stride, and laughed, "We can't _stop_ him from using it, no matter what suppression seals I put on the little monster. After that thing in the black tunnels...that's when he really started being a problem, with those eyes of his."

"Eyes?" A hint of emotion crept into Danzo's voice; surprise. The boy had no kekkei genkai that he knew of, beyond his clan's potent vitality.

"Yeah, it's like...a genjutsu, but it's not. You look at his eyes and your perception gets warped. Up becomes down, left becomes right..." The warden shuddered, "Your nightmares come out of the dark, and then you're burning."

"I see." Danzo's tone was contrary to his thoughts, and contrary to the smile which was threatening to spread from the corner of his mouth to the rest of it.

Finally, Shikīchi stopped before a heavy iron door set into a raw stone wall. The door was covered in seals that had been etched into the metal itself, and the stone around it was covered in paper tags of all sorts. The warden placed his hand against the door, priming it with his chakra before inserting his master key into the lock. He looked at Danzo and swallowed, "Sir? Not that I have any doubts in your ability, but...good luck."

Danzo nodded, and entered the dark room.

At once, he was assaulted by the scent of death, and an oppressive feeling that came from all sides.

"Food?" A voice in the dark, small and ragged.

The sound of something scraping on stone echoed through the chamber. Not metal, or stone, or flesh.

Bone.

"I have no food for you." The metal door shut behind Danzo, and he found himself in darkness.

"No. _Food._" The voice was insistent, and Danzo wondered if the boy had also acquired the _unique tastes_ of the Legendary Stupid Brothers.

A rush of displaced air, bare feet slapping on stone. Danzo threw himself forward into a roll, and the occupant of the cell flew over him.

Danzo frowned, "_I_ am not food."

A throaty vocalisation that might have been a laugh echoed through the dark, "Yes, food."

Danzo rose slowly, "My name is Shimura Danzo. Do you know who I am?"

The throaty un-laugh sounded again, "No, _food_."

The man stood firm, "Your name is Uzumaki Naruto. Do you want to leave this place Naruto?"

There was silence.

Danzo felt warm breath on his neck, the scent of raw and rotting meat strong in it. The man turned, slowly, and found himself staring into crystalline blue eyes with vertical pupils.

Suddenly, the room was lit by wisps of flame, and Danzo was forced to blink in the sudden brightness. When he opened them, the boy was moving towards him, fast, on all fours. His face blank and his eyes wide despite the light.

The man threw himself to the side, only to find that he rolled forward, towards the boy.

"Ah. An illusion."

And it was gone, the darkness filled the room once more, and the blue eyes blinked slowly before retreating rapidly.

"I will ask you again boy, do you wish to leave this place?"

A flickering wisp of flame appeared behind the boy, showing that he was crouched near the door. His tongue clicked against his teeth as he struggled to form a word he was unfamiliar with, "L-luh...leave?"

"Yes, I will take you from here, and teach you. Do you want that, Naruto?"

The boy's face was still, and blank, and his body was calm, crouched there near Danzo's only exit.

"Yes. Leave."

Danzo's smile split his face like cracking stone, "Good."

* * *

><p>AN: Well there you have it, the rewritten prologue. Changed some scenes in the original prologue, and, added a nice little bonus at the end there. Now let's seeeeeee, I'll give you some vague character info for new characters, because why not.<p>

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><p><strong>The Bandaged Man<strong>: An enigmatic figure with considerable skill in Fuinjutsu. He sealed The Masked Man (Uchiha Obito) away with an unknown technique, disabled and killed the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato, before extracting the Kyuubi no Kitsune and sealing it within the newborn Uzumaki Naruto. His goals are unknown and likely sinister.

**Threat Level:** S

**Known Abilities:** Fuinjutsu

**Nara Shikīchi:** A jonin level ninja of Konohagakure no Sato and Warden of the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, in the employ of Shimura Danzo. While Shikīchi himself is not a member of ROOT, he works closely with Danzo, allowing the old warrior to take inmates from his prison for a variety of reasons. Like the majority of his clan, Shikīchi is incredibly intelligent. Unlike the majority of his clan, Shikīchi has a tendency to be cruel, ruling over the prisoners in his care with an iron fist, and allowing the deeper, more dangerous levels of his prison to become a chaotic mess of anarchy.

**Threat Level:** A

**Known Abilities:** Shadow based ninjutsu, chakra suppressing and binding fuinjutsu, high intelligence


	3. Introduction Arc Pt 1: Foundation

AN: The prologue chapter is rewritten (huzzah!), and I think it's much better, I hope y'all feel the same.

Now let's meet Wetwork Unit Thirteen again, and get Naruto into the genin pool aye?

* * *

><p><strong>Rising Sun<strong>

**1**

**Foundation**

* * *

><p>Naruto sat perched on the branch of a tree, surveying the walls of the small estate that lay before him. It belonged to some minor lord or another, a man that had spoken against Konoha during talks with the Daiymo. But Danzo had ears everywhere, and now this man would die, like so many others.<p>

"Oni." Naruto fiddled with his armour, supple black leather and crimson lacquered steel plates, a lighter and more streamlined version of the armour worn by Konoha's ANBU. He felt restrained by it, his body longed to be free of its weight and back into the soft cloth of his personal clothes.

His mind was wandering again. He reeled it in and focused on the walls ahead. He scowled, there were more guards than he expected there to be, not that it would be much of a challenge. His team was the best at what they did.

"Oni. Y-you need to put your m-mask back on. Danzo-sama wouldn't approve. Th-the masks protect our identities, right?"

Naruto sighed and unhooked the mask in question from his belt, turning it over in his hands, and feeling the grain of the wood beneath his fingers. If his armour restrained him, his mask suffocated him. The thing had been carved from a single piece of white ironwood, in the likeness of a grinning ogre, and the inside of it was covered in seals; seals to reinforce the wood, seals to enhance the senses, seals to cleanse dust and toxins from the air, seals to remove the obstruction of the mask from the wearer's vision, seals for destruction...

Naruto looked down at the owner of the sweet, soft, stuttering voice, "The masks are meant to erase our identities if we die Onna." He smiled at her, and wondered if it looked awkward on his normally impassive face. From the awkward shuffling of Onna's feet when she looked at him, it was probably more disturbing than awkward. He quickly looked away, "Besides, we are unique, a mask only does so much to hide us. You sprout flowers from your body, Ryu's bleeds toxic gas and his skin is white, Tengu vibrates when she stands still and moves so fast she slams into walls."

He could hear the smile in her voice as she sighed at him, "And what makes y-you special?"

His lips formed a hard line, "Nothing."

She sighed again, "J-just put it on please? Ryu and T-Tengu are probably getting impatient waiting for you, y-you know how they are."

The blonde nodded stiffly, but hesitated, "How is he doing? Ryu, I mean. With his problem?"

Onna fidgeted, "He's...alright. W-we've been in the field for too long though...if this keeps up he's going to have another episode. I need to g-get him to my garden, and d-drain the excess energy."

The blonde hummed in the back of his throat, but the noise sounded more savage than thoughtful.

Three years and he still couldn't make the right sounds, or the right expressions. He wondered if he was broken, and if he was; could he be fixed? As he affixed the mask to his face, he imagined that the white face of the mask was as close to his true self as anyone would ever see anymore.

A tinny voice sounded through his mask and drew him back from his wandering thoughts, even distorted through the radio, Ryu's voice was smooth and sibilant, with a raspy quality that lent it a sort of gentle menace, "Check Onna. Check Tengu. Check Oni, Check Ryu."

Onna raised her hand to her throat and tapped the small microphone twice, "Check Onna, in position, ready to provide support." Onna's mask was the simplest and least fanciful in their squad, representing a smiling woman. She turned to look at him, her thick green hair caught in the light breeze that had picked up, the small white flowers that dotted the wild mass seeming to lean towards the moonlight as her hair swayed.

A voice that managed to be impossibly loud, despite the fact that they were on a covert mission screeched through the mask's headset, "Check Tengu! I'm in position already, c'mon, I wanna go home and get some dessert!" Though Naruto couldn't see her, he knew Tengu was shifting on her feet, gliding smoothly over the layer of chakra she projected between herself and the ground to reduce her friction and increase her speed. A clatter sounded through the headset as the speedy kunoichi fumbled her tanto, "Sorry! You didn't hear that!"

Naruto sighed silently and tapped his own microphone, "Check Oni. In position, ready to assault." He was prepared, the heat of his own chakra was already building in his stomach and flowing through his limbs, smoke beginning to leak out of his mouth as he calmed his breathing.

Their play had begun earlier, with Tengu approaching the lord's compound in the uniform of a courier-nin, and delivering completely innocuous letters and packages that they had _liberated_ from a legitimate courier. Naruto had marked each and every single one with a modified version of the seal that gave explosive tags their potency, trading explosive force for volume of flame. These were of course, drawn with an ink that faded into invisibility when dry.

"Check Ryu. Begin." At the mark of his team leader, Naruto clapped his hands together, and flames lit the night.

Konoha's message had been delivered, but the message wasn't complete.

At such a range, Naruto's control over the flames generated from the exploding parcels was tenuous and exhausting, but he had poured his own considerable reserves into the tags to fuel them, so it would suffice. His stomach burned, and with each long exhalation, smoke poured from behind the blonde's mask, even as he stretched out his hands to guide the flames into a single point in the sky above the estate.

Naruto could hear the panicked screams of the guards and civilians in the compound. In response, the ball of flame twisted, and the dragon that emerged from it answered their cries with a bone shaking roar.

"_Katon: __Chomeina __K__aenryū_ (Fire Release: Eminent Flame Dragon)." The name of the technique was spoken as a whisper, but its affect was anything but subtle. The column of roaring flame crashed down upon the already burning central tower of the fortress, where the lord's offices and living quarters were, turning them to little more than cinders and charred wood. The walls of the fortress buckled and burst from the force of the flames rushing against them.

The torrent of flame slowed, and eventually ceased, and Naruto's team moved in the finish the job.

There would be no survivors, but the message would be clear.

"_We know."_

* * *

><p>In the dark recesses of one of his many underground ROOT fortresses, Danzo Shimura strolled casually through one of the halls leading to his debriefing rooms, a black folder in hand.<p>

Contrary to popular belief, the old war hawk moved at such a leisurely pace not because of his obvious physical handicaps, but mostly as a method to gather his thoughts, and because he could. After nearly sixty-six years of loyal service to his village, had he not earned his right to take his time, especially while on the way to address one of his most effective, if not confusing and utterly inefficient shinobi units under his command?

"Wetwork unit thirteen..." he murmured softly, mostly to himself in idle thought before he entered the room, ignoring the gathered members of said team kneeling before his comfortable oak desk, as per tradition of his organization. After a moment of silence, he sat, his one good eye falling on the mask of the grinning Oni. If he did not know the teen that wore the mask as well as he did, he might have thought that his expression matched that of his mask.

"At what point...did you decide that an assassination was best accomplished by fire bombing the estate of one of the Daimyo's advisors?"

Naruto's eyes remained focused on the floor, "You presented us with our objective. We understood that how it was accomplished was left to our discretion."

The demon masked blonde was sent rocketing backwards, hit by a blast of wind launched from the end of Danzo's cane. "You will speak when called upon to respond, Oni. Team leader, report."

The dragon-masked teen codenamed "Ryu" edged forward, not rising from his kneeling position, even as Oni resumed his own kneeling position near the wall he had impacted. "While he spoke out of turn, Danzo-sama, Oni spoke truly. You left the method of completion in our hands. After much deliberation, we decided that a sudden and overwhelming strike would serve our purpose more effectively than a covert infiltration."

Danzo remained silent for a moment, and nodded sharply, "While I am not entirely pleased with your choice, I cannot fault your results." The veteran fixed his single eye on Ryu,

"Your plan was a perfect success, playing to the strengths of most of your teammates, Tengu's abilities and _cheer_ lend credence to the role of courier nin, and put the targets at ease. However, any guards or staff that left the compound between the time that the bombs were planted and when they were detonated may be able to make the connection between her and the attack, given her distinct appearance." Tengu shuffled backwards, her hand almost imperceptibly twitching towards her vibrant multicoloured hair. Danzo noticed her movement and frowned, "Onna, again, you were unneeded. Though they seem to lack the subtlety I expect from my agents, they are efficient, and effective. And they seem to not need your healing blooms. Remember what I allow, and be grateful for it."

Onna nodded, and shrinked into herself, and Danzo found his scowl deepening, before turning to Naruto. "Oni...your grasp of fuinjutsu continues to impress, though I dislike that you used an untested prototype seal during a potentially delicate operation. Further, your mastery of fire is again impressive. Your theatricality is not, nor is it expected, least of all from you."

Oni remained silent, and he knew that the teen was fuming inside, though his face would betray no emotion, as always.

With his displeasure voiced and praise given where needed, Danzo decided to get to business, namely with discussing a matter with his disciple that he felt was long overdue.

"Oni, stay. The rest of you, leave us." With a sharp, synchronized nod, they vanished, leaving their teammate with their master. Oni remained kneeling, his gaze locked on the floor. "Remove your mask, Naruto. Face me."

Silently, the blonde did as instructed, rising to his feet and meeting the steely eye of his teacher and master. "Danzo-sama." Naruto's voice was dull and without inflection, and his blue eyes were vacant, seeming to look past Danzo at something vaguely interesting on the wall behind him.

"I have a mission for you."

Naruto's face was stone, "With...respect, Danzo-sama, my unit is scheduled for leave, we have been in the field for going on two months now, it has taken its toll on them, Ryu and Onna in particular.

Danzo's eye narrowed, and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a ghost of a smile, "It has taken its toll on _them_. But not you?"

Naruto's crystalline eyes flashed, and Danzo wondered idly if the wood of his desk had always been so dark. "I am always ready to serve, Danzo-sama."

With a small smile, Danzo leaned into his chair. He slid the black folder across the desk, "Deep cover. Infiltration."

Naruto reached for the folder, but hesitated, "The target?"

"Konoha."

* * *

><p>"You kept him from me. All these years."<p>

Danzo looked up from his tea, and found a certain satisfaction at the frown on his old teammate's face. "A few years, at best. Really, I saved him from the pit. He was mine to do with as I pleased. ROOT has always been independent of your whims, old friend. This is no different."

Hiruzen sighed and began to pack his pipe, "This is different. He is different. His father...to say nothing of his _mother_. He is their legacy, and you would subject him-"

"What he suffered in the pit, in the dark, makes my most savage methods seem tame. He was little more than an animal when I found him, old friend. He endured my training, my lessons. He bent, but would not break. His teammates are the same. Not all of my students are husks, Hiruzen, though the boy has damage I do not know how to repair."

The Sandaime's frown deepened as he lit his pipe and took a draw, before grumbling and passing it to Danzo. The bandaged man accepted it graciously and after only a cautionary glance for poison, puffed slightly. "Why would you reveal him to me now. After all this time, you could have simply kept him in ROOT, another faceless soldier."

Danzo nodded and passed the pipe back, sighing a stream of smoke that shrouded the two legendary shinobi in thick wisps of white smoke as he gathered his thoughts "I could have, yes. But he could be more. As you said, his parents were...exceptional. He could be my legacy as well as theirs, if he is allowed to grow and develop from the _thing_ he was. I said I do not know how to repair the damage that was done to him in that place, perhaps this will help him."

Hiruzen sighed and looked at the folder before him, "This team. Why Kakashi? You have to know he'll recognize him. His hair...it's just like his father's."

"The girl is of no consequence. But the Uchiha has potential, and he would be trained by Hakate, our last Sharingan user. I feel it would help Naruto grow, and the Uchiha to grow in turn."

"What are you playing at Danzo? Hm?" Hiruzen's eyes narrowed and he coughed slightly.

Danzo simply grinned, "Nothing so sinister, old friend."

The two shared a chuckle at that, even as an ANBU in the rafters stared blankly at a similarly dressed man opposite him, hidden away in the shadows cast by the moon.

Their hands remained firmly on the hilt of their swords.

* * *

><p>AN: Whooo! Chapter rewritten! In the original version, Naruto's ROOT team was more...bleh, and that's no fun. Also, in this chapter, we introduced Naruto to the rookies, but we're holding that off until next chapter.<p>

So! Since Wetwork Unit Thirteen is not made of throwaway OCs, character introduction time! Also justsu!

~ ~ **Uzumaki Naruto:** The "hero" of our story, Uzumaki Naruto spent the first twelve years of his life in Konoha's Strict Correctional Facility before being "recruited" by Danzo and becoming a member of ROOT under the alias of Oni. Due to the conditions of his first twelve years, Naruto is less socially developed than his age-mates, his only positive social interactions coming from the "Legendary Stupid Brothers" Fujin and Raijin. This has caused him to adopt a more "feral" mindset when dealing with obstacles.

**Threat Level:** B

**Known Abilities:** Fuinjutsu, Katon specialty

~ ~ **"Onna"**: The medic of Wetwork Unit Thirteen, Onna is a shy girl. Unlike most members of ROOT, her primary allegiance is to her team, rather than to Danzo. Her unique abilities make her medical ninjutsu extremely effective, and allow her to be an effective combatant, though not on the level of her teammates.

**Threat Level:** C

**Known Abilities:** Medical Ninjutsu

~ ~ **"Tengu":** The scout of Wetwork Unit Thirteen, Tengu is an energetic and hyperactive girl. Like Onna and the other members of her team, her primary allegiance is _to_ her team, rather than to Danzo. She is an expert in taijutsu and kenjutsu, her incredible speed turning simple strikes into fierce and deadly blows.

**Threat Level:** B

**Known Abilities:** Recon specialty, ability to use Jinton (Swift Release)

~ ~ **"Ryu":** The official leader of Wetwork Unit Thirteen, Ryu is a soft spoken and incredibly intelligent young man. Ryu suffers from an imbalance of chakra that builds up gradually over time, particularly in periods of stress, which Onna relieves with her unique medical ninjutsu. Ryu is a consummate assassin, a master of misdirection and the hidden strike, with an impressive repertoire of poisons he has designed and modified himself.

**Threat Level: **B

**Known Abilities:** Expert infiltrator and assassin, extensive knowledge of animal and herbal poisons.

~ ~ **Shimura Danzo:** Known as the "Yami no Shinobi" or Darkness of Shinobi, Danzo is a veteran soldier and former comrade of the Third Hokage, as well as the founder of ROOT, a secretive branch of ANBU sometimes refered to as "Foundation." Danzo is a shrewd politician and expert strategist, who works for the good of Konoha in the worst of ways. He has willingly shouldered the burden of "darkness" which the general population of Konoha, civilian and shinobi alike, remain ignorant of.

**Threat Level:** S

**Known Abilities:** Master strategist, veteran combatant, Futon specialist, magnificent backstabbing bastard.

~**Jutsu**~

**_Katon: __Chomeina __K__aenryū_ (Fire Release: Eminent Flame Dragon):** A powerful blast of flame in the shape of a dragon, generated from pre-existing flames. The user must insert their own chakra into a fire, and then draw the flames into a single mass, which is the "egg" of the dragon. The user can hold this "egg" for as long as they have the chakra and focus to do so, and the longer that the "egg" is held, the more powerful the resultant dragon will be. If the user is skilled enough in the manipulation of fire, and fast enough in their reactions, this technique can even be used to steal and redirect the flames of another person's fire techniques.

**Rank**: B-Class


	4. Introduction Arc Pt 2: Dog Days

**AN:** Chapter Two! Wherein Naruto does...stuff. And things. Read and review my cute and wonderful readers!

* * *

><p><span><strong>Rising Sun<strong>

**2**

**Dog Days**

* * *

><p>Naruto stood at the entrance to the classroom with a slip of paper clutched in his hand. This was his mission, to "infiltrate" Konoha, study his age-mates, and give Danzo-sama his assessment of them. It would be a long term assignment, as he would be a part of a genin team, and otherwise function as an ordinary shinobi of Konoha, but his loyalty would be to Danzo, rather than the Sandaime.<p>

It was simple, really. But Naruto's stomach was twisted into knots, and the hair on the back of his neck and arms stood on end. He was terrified, and didn't know why. Perhaps it was the fact that he would finally be interacting with people his own age that weren't a part of his team? Or the fact that he was going to be interacting with non-ROOT shinobi? Or perhaps-

"How long are you going to stand out there, erm, Naruto-kun, is it?"

Naruto blinked, and looked up. A man with tanned skin and a scar across his nose smiled kindly at him, and Naruto felt some of his anxiety melt away. "A-ah. Yes. Uzumaki Naruto, reporting i-"

The teacher waved his hand dismissively, "Calm down Naruto-kun, there's no need to be so professional here." He smiled again, and rubbed the bridge of his nose, right over the scar. "I'm Umino Iruka, the instructor for Class A. Pleased to see you could make it!" The man was cheerful, and to Naruto at least, it seemed honest cheer. "Let's introduce you to the class alright?"

Stiffly, Naruto nodded, and moved to stand next to Iruka's desk at the front of the classroom. His piercing blue eyes looked at the class, taking note of the clan children most of all. Their eyes were on him, and Naruto wondered if fear felt like a class full of fifteen year old shinobi-to-be staring at him expectantly.

He cleared his throat, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like training and gardening. I don't really dislike anything. My dream is to be an effective shinobi for the village." His introduction finished, Naruto gave a stiff bow and looked at Iruka, who gestured for him to take a seat next to a civilian-born girl with bubblegum pink hair and bright green eyes, who cheerfully introduced herself as Haruno Sakura and offered her hand to shake.

Naruto looked at it like it was a particularly venomous snake, and nodded politely.

"Alright, pay attention all of you. Today, I'm going to talk about D-rank missions, which all of you will become intimately familiar with once you graduate next month!" A chorus of groans responded, and Iruka only chuckled, "Remember, while D-rank missions are little more than chores, they serve the purpose of keeping the day to day of the village's infrastructure running smoothly, which is incredibly important. In fact, while many civilians do the same jobs as those you will do on D-rank missions, sometimes they don't have the same capabilities as we do. A civilian contractor might be able to build a house in a year by himself, or in a month with a crew of other construction workers, but with a team a ninja assisting him, even if they're only genin, that house will be finished in a week, and able to house more civilians to strengthen the village's economy, or more shinobi, to strengthen the military.

"They might be boring, but they're very important. Does anyone have any ideas about what kind of missions D-ranks encompass?"

As the discussion carried on, Naruto tuned it out and allowed his mind to wander.

He wondered about his team, knowing that they had a mission in Takigakure, and hoping that they would be as safe as they could be. He might not have shown it much, but he cared about them more than they could know.

After all, with his brother gone, they were his family.

The teen's brow furrowed at the though of his brother, and pain shot through his head.

_Nine white towers encircle him, each taller than the last. _

_His gaze lingers on the ninth tower, _

_The voice is soft and dusky, the laugh that follows like crackling flame. 'Will you climb it?' _

_Naruto looked down at the metal grate that is the floor _

_its blackened metal warped and twisted. _

_'No.'_

_Twin points of orange flame gazed from the darkness_

_The black mass of not-fire seemed to shrug, 'If you say so.'_

Naruto refocused, snapping his mind back to the present, and found himself ducking under a wild haymaker courtesy of an Inuzuka male.

Was this a spar? Or was the Inuzuka simply attacking him? The clan had notorious tempers, so it wasn't implausible. But no, a quick look around showed that Iruka was supervising, and several other students had gathered to watch.

The blond grunted and slapped aside another of the Inuzuka's wild strikes and chambered a straight punch, which he unloaded straight into the Inuzuka's face, sending the teen tumbling backwards. Naruto stepped forward, delivering a savage kick into the teen's knee, buckling it and possibly cracking the kneecap. He staggered and fell to his knees, leaving him open for Naruto knee strike to the face, which laid the boy out flat on his back.

Lunging forward, Naruto moved to finish the fight, his hand suddenly clutching a kunai as he approached the prone teen, poised to strike and end the fight, permanently.

"Naruto! Enough!" Naruto heard Iruka's shout, but didn't register the words as having any meaning. He was fighting. His enemy needed to die, or they would remain and enemy. This is how it was. How it always would be. His blade darted forward as he dove towards the prone boy, only for a strong hand to grab his wrist and halt his momentum.

Without thinking, he spun into a kick, only for it to grind to a halt inches from his would be victim. The Sandaime Hokage offered him a wry grin and a low chuckle, "Perhaps you should listen to your teacher, Naruto-kun. I believe that Kiba-kun's mother would be quite upset if you killed her only son. The paperwork alone..."

A brief jolt of real fear shot through Naruto, and he immediately dropped to his knees and focused intently on the Hokage's feet. "Hokage-sama, forgive me. I was distracted during our spar and overreacted. I would never-"

"Walk with me, Naruto-kun, while your classmates get back to their training." Without waiting for a response, the Hokage turned and calmly walked away.

Wordlessly, Naruto rose and followed the white robed man.

* * *

><p>Naruto focused on the roof beneath him, the rough concrete digging uncomfortably into his knees and clenched fist. Sarutobi Hiruzen stood at the edge of the roof, his back to the blonde, looking out over the training yard where the other shinobi-to-be were sparring and practicing their shurikenjutsu. A wisp of smoke escaped the man's lips as he puffed on his pipe.<p>

"Tell me, Naruto-kun; What is the Will of Fire?"

The blond's response spilled from his lips without thought or consideration, "A foolish philosophy."

The Hokage smiled wanly, "I know what my old comrade thinks of the Will of Fire, Naruto-kun. I asked what _you_ think it is. Contrary to what he might have you believing, there is something of a difference."

"The Will of Fire is the ideal of Konoha. Our strength, through unity and camaraderie, that gives us the strength to-"

"Half right, Naruto-kun. Half right. Try again, and this time...tell me what _you_ think it means. Not what a textbook says, you're more than that, I think." The Hokage had a touch of amusement to his voice that Naruto couldn't miss, and the blond found himself wanting to grin despite himself.

"The Will of Fire is what makes Konoha great, Hokage-sama. While Iwagakure's Will of Stone stresses that while the unity of the shinobi is essential, it also implies that they are ultimately replaceable. Iwa's philosophy teaches that the strength of the individual shinobi, working towards a common goal, ensures the strength of the whole. The other villages, while differing slightly in the delivery of this philosophy, believe the same thing. Konoha is different." Naruto was surprised. Never before had he considered the difference between Konoha and the other shinobi villages, sure that Danzo's assertion of Konoha's superiority was enough to make it so.

"How is Konoha different, Naruto-kun?"

"Konoha believes the opposite. The Will of Fire embodies the idea of unity as strength. We do not have bonds because of strength, we have strength because of bonds. In Konoha, the weakest of us can defeat an army, because none of us are ever alone. We begin our careers as genin teams, and even through promotion, we stay with our teams one way or another. Jonin, that have been separated by conflict or assignment, in times of strife, find each other again, and are the stronger for it. The legendary Sanin were able to stand against the might of Hanzo, not because of their strength as individuals, but because of their strength as a unit."

The Hokage's smile was broad and bright and filled Naruto with a warmth he could not explain, "Exactly. Come here, Naruto-kun, and look at your classmates." Naruto did so, in time to see Inuzuka Kiba, the boy he had fought and almost killed, drilling through a wooden post as Iruka lectured him about the proper speed of rotation, "Those shinobi, and they _are _shinobi, headband or not, are your precious comrades my boy. One day, you will put your life in their hands, and they will in turn put their lives in yours. You will fight, bleed, and even die together." The old man chuckled, "Perhaps you will even marry one of them, do you think?"

Naruto's gaze was unfocused, but he nodded, "My...precious comrades. W-what will I do, Hokage-sama? How do I-"

The man turned and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You, my boy, will make many friends. You will have many allies, and I think that some day, you will change the world."

The teen's body stiffened, and his eyes focused, the crystalline blue orbs flashing in the sunlight as their odd vertical pupils contracted, "Yes, Hokage-sama. I think you're right."

As he walked down the stairs from the roof and made his way back to the training area, Naruto did his best to ignore the pounding in his head.

* * *

><p><em>Make many friends.<em>

Naruto's hand went to his head as pain spiked through it, like hot needles being pushed through his eyes. He groaned, a deep rumbling in his chest more like a growl than anything else. Sarutobi Hiruzen was the Hokage, and as such, his word was law.

But Naruto didn't know how to make friends, or find allies, least of all change the world.

He was ROOT. His life beyond his missions was nonexistent at best, his social skills existed in a similar state of nonexistence.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Naruto stiffened and turned around, he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't felt the approach of his class instructor, though he supposed the man could have been concealing his presence.

"Ah. Uhm, yes Iruka-sensei. I was thinking." Naruto looked away, hoping that the scarred teacher would leave it at that, and leave him to his thoughts.

Naruto, of course, underestimated Iruka's ability to care for the well being of his students. "What about?"

The boy blinked, "What Hokage-sama said to me." Pain spiked through his head as the Hokage's words echoed through his thoughts yet again.

_Make many friends._

"How does one...er...make friends, Iruka-sensei?"

The teacher blinked and chuckled softly, "I don't think there's exactly a formula for making friends Naruto-kun."

"Ah." The boy scratched the back of his head, "Perhaps my...friend, might have something to assist me. She's given books to another of my friends when he expressed curiosity on the subject."

"Teammates in ROOT?"

Naruto blinked, "You were...informed?"

The warm smile appeared on Iruka's face again, "Of course I was Naruto-kun. What do you expect, that Hokage-sama would allow a member of Konoha's most shadowy organization into my class without telling me what the danger might be?"

"Yet you allowed it? Why?"

The smile shrank, but lost none of its warmth, "Danzo may have taught you how to survive, how to fight, how to kill. What else did he teach you?"

"How to speak. How to think. How to be...human." His fists clenched, and his brows knit together, "I owe everything to him. To ROOT."

"He did not teach you how to to human," It was not a question, but a statement of fact, and snapped at Naruto like a lash. "To be human is to think, to feel. He did not teach you how to do that. He did not teach you how to live Naruto-kun.

"And you can?"

"I don't suppose I can. That has to come from you, you have to choose to live as a human, instead of as a tool." Iruka looked away, his warm smile absent, for a moment. "But perhaps I can help set you on the right path."

A perplexed eyebrow quirked towards the blonde's hairline, "How?"

Iruka laughed cheerfully, "Do you like ramen, Naruto-kun?"

* * *

><p>Naruto, as it turned out, enjoyed ramen.<p>

Naruto enjoyed ramen immensely.

It made him talkative, he discovered, though he figured it could also be the company that loosened his lips. Iruka sat next to him, laughing easily at a comment from the owner of the ramen stand, a man named Teuchi. The owner's daughter Ayame, a pretty brunette girl a few years older than Naruto, smiled at him as she served him his fifth bowl.

"I think it would be a good idea Iruka-kun. He hasn't had the same attention as the rest of your students."

Naruto frowned at the older man's words, "I was tutored by one of Konoha's best shinobi from the time I was twelve. The other students in the class can't boast that, save for perhaps the clan children." Iruka and Teuchi exchanged a glance and the older man began to laugh, while the teacher sighed.

"I'll have to disagree with you there son, since Iruka-kun here has been individually teaching his current class since they were six years old." Teuchi looked at the teacher with a smile, "And he is truly one of Konoha's finest shinobi."

Iruka rubbed the bridge of his nose and flushed ever so slightly, "I'm just a chunin Teuchi, nothing spectacular."

The chef laughed, deep in his belly, and nudged Naruto as he placed the seventh bowl in front of him, "Your Iruka-sensei is also one of Konoha's most modest shinobi. Do you think they would entrust the education of Konoha's next generation to an ordinary chunin? Hardly."

Naruto pondered that as he dug into his ninth bowl of noodly goodness. Perhaps there was something in the teacher's dossier on the subject? The blonde had meant to read all of the files on each student in his class, along with the teachers, but he hadn't found the time before his assignment began.

That was a lie, the teen thought to himself, he just didn't like to read. There was some measure of victorious smugness in the thought, at least until he bit into a piece of menma. He grimaced and asked Teuchi and his daughter to leave the menma out of future bowls.

The conversation turned idle again, and Naruto eagerly dug into his twelfth bowl, though his thoughts wandered to Iruka's supposed skill.

Suddenly, Naruto broke his chopsticks into the empty bowl before him and stood, turning to face the scarred teacher, "Iruka-sensei, what would you teach me if I was to ask for supplementary lessons?"

The man closed his eyes for a moment, smiling softly, "I would have to see what you can do first, so I can think of a lesson plan."

The blonde looked at Iruka intently, "I want to learn everything."

"Oh? Everything?"

Those crystalline blue eyes flashed, "Everything."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> So, I have mixed feelings about this chapter. It was fun to write, but I feel somewhat like I'm having a hard time nailing down Naruto's personality.

Arguably, this is because he doesn't have one at this point, still being mostly in "ROOT Mode." Over the next few chapters, Naruto will continue emerging from the blank and mostly emotionless shell of his ROOT self, and into the (hopefully) dynamic lunatic we all know he can be.

This chapter took place over the course of a single day, at the beginning of the last month of the Ninja Academy for this batch of potential genin. Let's say its June, yes? The next chapter will span the remaining month, and hopefully lead us into Naruto's official promotion to Genin, and his finally joining Konoha's ninja forces properly.

On the subject of age, since I'd like to get this out of the way early. Naruto and his agemates are fifteen years old, Team Gai is sixteen. Kakashi and his agemates are likewise three years older. Everyone is three years older than in the canon Introduction Arc. I did this because there are certain scenes of violence and adult situations that I'm just not comfortable writing pre-teens in.

A result of this is that everyone has gotten more training. Assuming shinobi children start the Academy at six years old, they've been learning to be ninja for _nine_ years. Naruto, however, has only been a member of ROOT for three years, and those three years are the sum of his shinobi training, barring whatever "wisdom" the Legendary Stupid Brothers might have imparted on him during his time in the dark.

The skill levels of our assorted side-characters are higher than canon because of this extra time of training, but, the villains have also had another three years, to plan, to plot, and to grow powerful.

So that's fun.

See you next time, my wonderful readers! Ninja things awaiiiiit!


	5. Introduction Arc Pt 3: Incursion

**AN:** Chapter Three! I apologize for my extended absence, I recently got a job where I was working 10 hours a day and commuting for 2 hours, I simply didn't have the energy to write afterward. BUT MY SHEDULE HAS NORMALIZED, AND I AM RETURNED. Iz gun b gud.

* * *

><p><strong>Rising Sun<strong>

**3**

**Incursion**

* * *

><p>His name was Kenji.<p>

Kenji was a simple man, having risen to his position as underboss in the local Yakuza family through years of hard work and careful planning. He ruffled no feathers, and stepped on no toes. He never disappointed, but never truly impressed.

As he clutched the ragged stump of his elbow, he wondered how his decisions had led him to this moment.

A wet crunch prompted the man to look behind him, a decision he immediately regretted. The red faced demon stood amid the viscera and gore of his underlings, men he considered his family, and he was overcome by a sense of profound disappointment.

Then rage. He grit his teeth and turned around, facing the monstrous figure, "Fuck you! Why are you doing this!"

The thing was still for a moment, its chest heaving as it observed the carnage it had wrought. Then it looked at him, and a pair of crystalline blue eyes shone from behind the red face.

Not a face. A mask.

"Sick." The masked man swayed, running his fingers through blood drenched hair as wisps of crimson mist drifted from his shoulders. "You are...a sickness."

Kenji laughed, a mad cackle, "And you're what? A doctor? Fuck you!"

The man's head tilted, and those blue eyes regarded him again, "Doctor? Doctor. Doctor doctor. No no no. Not doctor." Red hands passed under the mask, lifting it as laughter built deep in his chest. The mask fell away, clattering wetly to the floor. "Change. I am...change."

A wisp of red darted forward, and Kenji staggered back.

For a moment, he had seen a fox.

Then he died, like his underlings, in a shower of blood.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen stood in the back room of a small restaurant known for poor quality sushi and cheap sake that was formerly the front for the Yakuza branch operating in the north-western section of Konoha's Red Light District.<p>

The scene before him reminded him eerily of the carnage of the shinobi wars. "Are there any survivors Tsume-san?"

The matriarch of the Inuzuka sneered at the a dismembered leg, "If there was, they're long gone. No scent trails either, too much blood." She inhaled, grimacing, "And fear. Whoever did this scared the shit out of these poor bastards, literally, in some cases."

Hiruzen nodded and looked at the other jonin he had summoned, "I'm afraid we've only use for your eyes Inoichi-san, though they are welcome nonetheless." The blond man nodded, and returned to his investigation of the records and ledgers the Yakuza had kept. "Anko-san, Ibiki-san, your thoughts?"

Ibiki ran his hands over the concrete wall, his fingers lingering on deep gashes in the stone, "The perpetrator was undoubtedly a shinobi, not a member of a rival family. I've encountered all of three non-shinobi, non-samurai fighters that can cause this kind damage, and they're all locked up in Shikīchi's prison. Even so, not many shinobi below chunin can tear into stone like this, and even fewer shinobi below jonin have the skills to cause this much damage and then simply vanish."

"So, what? Our options are a foreign ninja or a nukenin rambled into our village undetected, murdered a bunch of Yakuza, and walked right back out?" The woman speaking was crouched in the blood, idly poking at a lone eyeball, heedless that her brown coat was dragging in the blood that covered the floor. "That's the _preferred_ option too, right? The other option is that we've got something similar to that bastard again, or Meszenin." Anko blinked, "Is the bug guy still locked up?"

Ibiki nodded, "Last report from Shikīchi, the Aburame is still in solitary confinement." That Shikīchi was an unreliable source of information was left unsaid, he was largely honest, but his reports were often taken with a grain of salt. 'Solitary confinement' could mean that the Aburame was lost in the prison, or truly contained. It could also mean that the Aburame was dead.

"Shit, so its either an infiltrator, or a new lunatic in our own ranks." Anko finally stood, crushing the eyeball under her foot as she did so, "Your orders, Hokage-sama?"

The Sandaime stood on the steps leading down to the back room, "Keep this incident quiet. It may have been a one time thing. Continue investigating, but as long as the killings remain contained behind the red line, keep it quiet. If it spills into the general population, maintain order." As the Hokage turned to leave, Ibiki spoke.

"Why...Hokage-sama, do you think events like these continue to happen in our village? First, Orochimaru, then Meszenin, then Izero, and now another? You know full well that this is not an infiltrator. It's one of our own."

The room was silent, save for the panting of Tsume's ninken. The Sandaime did not turn to face his subordinate, but his shoulders sagged nonetheless.

"I expect a report on my desk by the end of the week. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Something was building.<p>

Like electricity in the air, or a change of pressure heralding a coming storm.

The civilian population of Konoha was nervous, unsure of the atmosphere that surrounded them.

The shinobi were on edge, the most senior among them recalling a time before the wars of their youths.

Naruto could only scream silently as the pressure built in his head and gut, threatening to tear him apart or crush him to rubble.

"Focus Naruto!" Iruka's hand slammed into Naruto's chest, throwing the teen backwards from the teacher. "What happened to your focus? That drive to learn? I thought you wanted to learn everything?" Iruka sounded upset.

Naruto's ears were full of the sound of gnashing teeth.

He saw red, and rushed at the teacher. Iruka scowled, his hand rushing out to intercept Naruto's feral haymaker and sweeping his leg out from beneath him. Pinned to the ground, Iruka's hand on his throat, Naruto closed his eyes.

Baleful green eyes looked out from the darkness.

_Nine white towers rose around Naruto_

_the hand on his throat turned from warm flesh_

_to black not-fire, offering no light and no wamth_

_'Why do you not climb?'_

_The Shadow seemed to smile_

_orange flames looked down at him_

_'You know he's waiting'_

_Naruto snarled and spun away_

Suddenly back in reality, Naruto looked at where Iruka had landed, crouched on the ground after the blond had broken his hold and punched him squarely in the face. "That was risky Naruto, what if I had had a blade to your throat?"

"I would have done what was possible to minimize the wound, then cauterized it to slow the bleeding whilst retreating from a superior opponent."

Iruka kept low to the ground, his fingers curling into claws as he regarded the soon-to-be-genin, "You'd take the wound? Why not yield and allow yourself to be taken captive? You could potentially get information from your captor and find other opportunities for escape."

"Death is preferable to capture." Naruto slipped into his stance, the stiff, angular style he had learned from ROOT.

When Iruka appeared before him, already moving into the opening strikes of the Inuzuka's signature taijutsu, Naruto was unsure how to react.

When the teacher spun into the Inuzuka's _Tsuga_ technique, he was particularly unsure how to react until he was buried some inches into the concrete wall of the academy.

He relaxed, and as he fell out of the hole Iruka had put him in, rose on all fours, mirroring the stance the scarred teacher had adopted.

The sound of gnashing teeth filled Naruto's ears, but he pushed it down, and focused on the opponent before him.

Iruka's fingers hooked into claws, and he swiped at the blond, drawing blood as his nails slashed across Naruto's crossed arms. A wild kick slammed into the block as the scarred teacher pivoted on his palm, switching quickly from the Inuzuka style to something more reminiscent of the _Gōken_ favoured by some of Konoha's elite Jonin.

Naruto grunted, feeling that the bones in his forearms were likely cracked from the impact, and adopted a similar stance to the one Iruka now held.

The chunin rushed forward, and his fist slammed into Naruto's chest with the terrible impact that was undeniably _Tekken_. Blood sprayed from the teen's mouth as his ribs shattered, the ripple of the teacher's strike forcing jagged chunks of bone out of his skin.

The teen hit the ground, a groaning pile of quivering pain as he struggled to draw breath into his collapsed lungs, cries of pain coming out as pitiful coughs as fire surged from his core, repairing the damage to his body in the span of a few minutes.

Iruka stood silently, a look of intense concentration on his face before letting out a slow whistle as Naruto rose, his bones audibly popping back into place, "I read about your healing ability in the report Hokage-sama gave me, but it really is impressive."

Naruto's face was carefully blank, hesitant to begin sparring with the teacher again, "You are a sadist, Iruka-sensei."

The teacher hummed amusedly, "Probably. But you can take it, yeah? Best way to learn is through doing, right?" Without waiting for a response, the teacher blurred forward, his palm slamming into Naruto's face and his fingers gripping his skull, carrying the blond to the ground with the momentum of his strike.

Naruto stared blankly at the sky through the teacher's fingers as he felt his shattered nose and fractured skull knitting back together.

"Ow."

* * *

><p>Some hours later Naruto sat at the counter of Ichiraku Ramen with Iruka, wondering exactly where the sadistic instructor had disappeared to, and where the kind teacher kept him when he wasn't needed to pummel the youth of the village into the dirt.<p>

"So Naruto-kun, what did our Iruka teach you today?"

A slow blink was given in response, as Naruto calmly slurped up his noodles, savouring the rich taste.

Iruka began to laugh, "Manoeuvres fifty through seventy-five."

The old chef flinched, "Ouch. And he's still walking?"

Naruto sighed, and graciously accepted another bowl from Ayame, but remained silent as he dug in. Shrimp, and he was certain the young woman had added extra for him, how thoughtful.

"He's sturdy this one, I couldn't dream of teaching the others like him. Honestly, he could probably endure _Juku_ and reap the full benefits of it, but it might be too soon for that. I think we'll continue focusing on his taijutsu until graduation, since his ninjutsu is quite passable, if a little one-dimensional."

Naruto grunted. Even with his quick healing, his body _ached_ from two weeks of nightly sparring sessions with the teacher that consisted almost entirely of the scarred teacher pounding his face into bloody chunks and watching as he pulled himself together. Naruto had regrown entire _teeth_, something he honestly didn't know he could do, as he had never lost teeth before.

As the teacher chatted amicably with the cook, Naruto thought of the purpose of these lessons. Despite the apparent futility of getting repeatedly beaten by a superior opponent, Naruto understood, Iruka's style was free, fluid. The easy manner that the man switched between styles and strikes was the antithesis of how he had been taught in ROOT.

Not that he entirely fit the mould of ROOT's mental processes, while his methods were somewhat unorthodox among his peers, compared to the average shinobi, Naruto innovated a glacial pace. His ability to adapt to new situations quickly was tentative at best, and almost non-existent in reality. By forcing him to deal with a constantly shifting opponent, Iruka had forced Naruto to change the way he thought and acted, or else suffer continuous pain and damage.

So Naruto had adapted, albeit with agonizing slowness, but he had adapted nonetheless. The teacher's sudden shifts in style no longer surprised or off balanced him, though the man's terrifying skill still punched through any defences that the blond my throw up.

He had also begun to respond in kind, while his defences couldn't keep up with the teacher, his attacks were fierce and wild. Where Iruka was calm, controlled, and deliberately unpredictable, Naruto was feral and instinctual, his logical mind almost entirely separate from the movement of his body.

Iruka was pleased, the more raw and instinctual Naruto became, the more he opened up. The stiff formality and emotionless conditioning of ROOT falling away bit by bit, leaving something new and unformed. Iruka only hoped that the jonin-sensei for Naruto's team was a nurturing one, that would encourage Naruto's continual growth into a fine and splendid man, if a rather wild one, rather than the cold weapon Danzo had sculpted him into.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in a quiet corner of Konoha, Hakate Kakashi sneezed, and looked around curiously before resuming reading the orange book in his hand and giggling quietly.<p>

* * *

><p><em>teeth<em>.

The red face stalked through the streets of the Red Light District, observing curiously as the working girls sold themselves to passing thugs as those same thugs went from shop to shop robbing the owners of their hard earned money in exchange for "protection."

_teeth_ g_rinding_ **gnashing** _**snapping**_.

A tattooed thug pushed him, and a hand shot up, fingers digging into the man's throat, cutting off his breath for an instant, before tearing a new opening for the man to breath through, though he drowned in his own blood before he could make use of it.

Weak.

_**gnawing**_

The red face swayed as the sound intensified in his ears, the sound of _grinding gnawing gnashing snapping **teeth** _filling everything he was. Another thug came up to him, started shouting, pulled a knife.

Red chakra shot forward, rupturing the man's underdeveloped chakra coils and turning him into a spray of bloody chunks.

Worthless.

A large man sat on the edge of a set of stairs, the tattoos twining around his arms and back marking him as another Yakuza thug. He sat calmly, looking at the red face.

"You don't look well friend."

_**TEETH**_

A throaty sound almost like a laugh came from behind the mask, "Well? Not well. Come to _correct_. Your kin, yes?"

The man sighed and gripped the large object he held, a staff of some kind, the majority of it sleeved in metal and covered in blunt studs. Kannabo. Weapon for breaking and bashing and smashing. "No kin of mine aniki. Down the alley and to the left. Bad men deserve a bad end."

Blue eyes blinked behind the red face, "Curious."

The man shrugged, "They threw aside any honour they had long ago. I cannot kill them myself, or my own would be forfeit, but...perhaps I fell asleep on watch, yes?"

"You are...different. What is your name?"

The man looked thoughtful, "Oda."

"Oda. Mm. I will remember. Oda." Nodding at the man, the red face walked past him into the alley.

Walking slowly, the blue eyes behind the red face were unfocused. The air felt thick, and heavy, the sound of teeth in his ears more of a physical force than a sound. His blood rushed in his ears, and his mouth felt dry.

_Nine white towers_

_bent towards each other_

_the shadowy not-fire cowered_

_red fury tinted by fear echoed through the circle_

_chains rattled and the sound of gnashing teeth filled the air_

The red face stood over a bloody corpse, his fingers curled into claws as grown men screamed and scrambled to flee him.

All at once the sound of teeth dropped away, and Naruto blinked, the red mask over his face suddenly feeling heavy, he couldn't breath, couldn't think, so he tore it off and tossed it away.

The air rushed out of the room, drawing the breath from his lungs as it did. Power filled the air, setting Naruto's nerves ablaze as he was forced to his knees by a pressure that wasn't there.

He could feel it, see it, the sky was wrong.

For the first time in his life, Naruto knew terror.

The sky was a sickly green, the stormy clouds that suddenly filled it distorted by ripples, as if a stone was thrown into still water. With a great heave, the sky stilled.

Like a mirror made of tinted glass, the population of Konoha could see their village reflected in the sky, but the vision shown to them was wrong and decayed, burnt and blackened, they saw only death.

Then the mirror broke, and the sky shattered like glass.

The sound of gnashing teeth filled Naruto's ears, his mind, his soul, and the core of his being rebelled, and pushed against the oppressive presence, forcing chakra from his coils all at once.

He staggered from the building, dragging himself through the alley, past the terrified Oda that still sat at his post, his eyes locked on the sky, heedless of the chakra pouring off the unmasked teen that staggered past him screaming at the top of his lungs.

The animal part of Naruto's brain told him to flee, to find the deepest hole he could and crawl into it forever, because something was terribly _wrong._

The human part of his brain told him to flee, because he was a murderer, because the yakuza in that back room could not have possibly survived the corrupted and fire natured chakra he had forced from his body moments earlier, that he could not be caught near the scene, that shinobi were likely on their way at that very moment, drawn by the powerful flare to apprehend or kill whoever had done such a thing.

A broad chest and large gut impeded Naruto's flight as he crashed into their owner, finding himself on his rear in the middle of the street, chakra still pulsing off of him in waves.

"Ohho? What's this then? You appear to be in some distress young man!" The voice was joyous, if somewhat haggard, "Good news for you though! I'm a doctor of some renown! Come come!"

Naruto found himself dragged to his feet and pulled along by the man, barely taking note of his high collared heavy grey coat and dark sunglasses.

"You appear to be suffering from an overload of chakra, some of which doesnt appear to be natural to your system! How _curious!_ No matter! We'll get you secreted away where the nosy ANBU and military police can't find you until you've calmed down!"

Naruto suddenly felt very tired, even as pain sprouted along his arms and back. He looked at the man curiously, and then found his gaze wandering to the sky, the unnatural green color was fading, but the cracks were still very much present as distortions in the air, like heat haze, but not.

"Never fear! Your dear uncle Izero will fix you right up! My friends are just draining your _exceptional_ chakra a bit, to help you relax, and I've taken the liberty of taking some blood and tissue samples at the same time! You don't mind, do you?"

"Wh-" Pain shot through Naruto's head as the sound of gnashing teeth intensified, driving him to his knees.

"Look at the state of you boy! Of course you don't mind little things like that!"

As Naruto was hauled bodily to his feet once more, his mind disconnected from his body, and as darkness claimed him, the white towers rose around him once more, and a voice, far darker and deeper than the voice of the not-fire, spoke.

_**At long last, human, we will have words.**_

Naruto could only imagine that that was a very bad thing.

* * *

><p>AN: After such a long time away, Rising Sun has returned, and it has returned with a resounding BANG.<p>

This has always been the plan, but after being away for so long, I felt that you, my readers, deserved something delicious for waiting so patiently.

Again, another chapter of mostly thinking and talking and FLIPPING THE FUCK OUT, but we'll get into some delicious combat soon, after all, only two or three more chapters left in the introduction arc, and then we move onto the Mission to Wave Arc, which is going to be almost criminally delicious.

* * *

><p>Now for some words!<p>

_**Gōken **__**(Strong Fist)**__**:**_Canonically, the taijutsu utilized by Maito Gai, Rock Lee, and Uzumaki Naruto, among others, the _Gōken,_ or Strong Fist is a system of taijutsu used by many chunin and jonin in Konoha, owing to its high degree of versatility and powerful strikes, even those with familiarity of the style can have difficulty combating it, due to its large quantity of techniques and manuvers, and the different combinations possible because of them.

**_Tekken __(Iron Fist):_** Considered among one of Konoha's most destructive taijutsu styles, _Tekken_ involves the strengthening of the skin, muscles, and bones of the user, reinforcing the body and allowing it to withstand the force of tremendous blows. While in reality _Tekken_ is simply an advanced technique in the _Gōken_ style, the difference in strength between someone using _Tekken_ and someone not is so vast that it appears a completely different school of combat. All practitioners of _Tekken_ are practitioners of _Gōken, _and all practitioners of _Gōken_ have the potential to become practitioners of _Tekken._

* * *

><p>Now for a name!<p>

**Oda:** A Yakuza enforcer working in Konoha's Red Light District, Oda is a calm and collected man with a peculiar concept of honor. Possessing great strength if his weapon of choice is anything to go by, Oda is more than he seems.

I would talk a bit about Izero, but he'll get a blurb in the next chapter!

Reviews for the Review God!


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